30 October 2010

Hugging Trees and Combing Olives

Have you ever combed a tree? Really. It's the way olives are hand picked here in our little corner of the world. Each branch combed with a plastic comb to pull down the olives but not disturb the leaves.

And did you know that olives are beautiful when they're ripe? Both on the tree:

And up close and personal, even while olives rain on me, and branches brush my hair:

And once harvested, caught in the nets spread under the trees, they are particularly colorful in their earthy beauty:

They're then scooped up and bagged in tall burlap bags:

And taken to community presses to be made into olive oil, some of which we'll receive for our own use:

As it looked today, this was the view from my friend's yard where her 70, 30 year old olive trees live:

Harvesting olives by hand was a first for me. The day was sunny and 67 degrees, clear with the clean, fragrant air characteristic of towns further up into the mountains.

The outdoors, the presence of friends, both old and new, the delicious, home made food prepared by my friend (the trees caretaker), the light hearted bantering and whole hearted tree hugging was such a rare and lovely way to spend a day.

Combing a tree branch by branch turned out to be an intimate act of care and love. It made my heart happy.

How interesting....I did not know about harvesting olives!!! All I do is eat them.....I love all kinds. I bought a jar of calamato to go on my salad tonight...I think they were around $4.00 for 9.5 oz......so delicious! What a wonderful experience you had today!

I never knew about the 'combing'. I thought they just shook the trees and the olives fell into the nets. Also, I have never understood why some are still green and some are already black and yet they are all deemed to be ripe. There is SO much I don't know about olives! Except that I love them and I love olive oil. And I love olive trees. Olive groves always feel so amazingly peaceful and tranquil. Thank you for this wonderful and interesting post.

Patti, It was delightful. The feast that followed- fun!Nanny, The olives of our area are green and delicious (and cheap!). The ones we picked were for oil.B.O. Grandma, I agree. The olives here are plentiful and inexpensive enough that I enjoy them often.Elderwoman, Thank you. Living in this mostly rural area of Italy has taught me many new things, including this combing tradition. Olives are also harvested by "clappers" driven by generators, but this isn't nearly as lovely. The olives are black when they're ripe but their still green neighbors are considered ripe enough to harvest and press. p.s. I'm loving your book: "Greenspirit"!

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About Me

As an ancestor in training I'm staying active and alert in this my middle decade of old age. In my first decade I retired and moved to Antigua and Italy to have adventures in other cultures. Traveling around the Caribbean and Europe for nine years grew me out of my too- small self and gave me a bigger world view and my place in it. That was quite an education. I'm married to my best friend and main squeeze for 44 years and have a daughter who's saving the rain forest together with her husband. Through her two children's tutelage I'm learning how to grandmother. It's a work in progress demanding fierce love, scoops of creativity as well as considerable fun along the way. I love my life.

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We are needed, that is all we can know. …One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to show up and show your soul….To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these- to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity. (Clarissa Pinkola Estes)